NASCAR’s safer barriers and safety measures for driver protection were lauded last week when Chase Elliott got loose and slammed Christopher Bell into the barriers at Michigan International Speedway. 

Thankfully, Bell walked out of his car, and NASCAR announced that it was the hardest hit recorded. But since the JGR driver was the one who felt the impact of the crash, it would be his call to reveal the details on the G-force recorded from the high-impact wreck. 

Bell spoke to the media in Pocono ahead of the race and revealed the details as per his understanding. 

Bell said, “I’ve been told that it was 63 G’s on impact. But I don’t know what Delta V is. It doesn’t matter to me. It was a big one so I’m just so incredibly fortunate and thankful and blessed that my head was okay, and to get out of there with just a fractured wrist is pretty immaculate.”

He first slammed into the wall after the initial contact with Elliott’s No. 9 HMS Chevrolet. After bouncing off the wall, Elliott’s car slammed into Bell’s No. 20 JGR Toyota, almost sandwiching him in. 

Bell’s being thankful for his head being safe was another bit of praise for the improved HANS device, which acts like a seatbelt for the neck, preventing it from jerking around violently during high impact crashes. 

He said, “I owe all of the credit to NASCAR and my team for building safe cars. I said it in my statement earlier, all of the previous drivers who have paid a price to make these cars as safe as they are today.

"NASCAR, learning from every experience that they’ve had and every moment, every crash, paid off last Sunday. Super grateful, and I’m looking forward to putting it behind me for sure."

“Driving the Car One Handed”: Bell on his Injury

Bell walked out of the car with a broken wrist, a minor injury compared to the extent of the crash. Bell was seen sporting a cast on his left hand during the press conference and spoke about the way forward and the road to recovery. 

“Under normal circumstances, they would say six weeks. So I would expect me to be in a cast for a period of time. I’m really glad that I didn’t have displaced bones, so I didn’t have to have surgery, which was awesome. I’m gonna take it week by week. Obviously, I’ll be wanting to get out of the cast as quickly as I can.”

While he lauded the measures taken by his group of doctors to closely monitor the injury and look at the fastest road to recovery, Bell aims to continue driving at full throttle. But entering the tricky triangle in Pocono, followed by a couple of street circuits, how does the injury impact his driving?

“Right now, it’s pretty much driving the car one-handed. I can kind of hold the wheel a little, but I think enough to shift, shifting in the straightaways here. Pocono, I think it’s gonna be doable.”

With around 6 weeks as the estimated timeline for a full recovery, Bell is expecting the following road course races at Sonoma and Coronado Naval Base in San Diego as races that would be more challenging on his wrist and ability to show his maximum potential.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason